Facing their fourth top-ten ranked opponent in a row, Westmont Volleyball fell to #4 Concordia (17-2, 9-2) in three straight games, 30-13, 30-17, 30-23. Concordia shut down the Westmont attack with 13 team blocks. Five of the Warrior hitters produced more attack errors than kills.

Senior outside hitter Kelsey Voetmann led the Warriors with five kills and sophomore setter Stephanie Strasner had 11 assists. Junior libero Malinda Reese, the reigning Golden State Athletic Conference Libero of the Week, added 28 serve receptions and 15 digs. Westmont produced six team blocks of their own with Katie Sharp picking up five block assists.

[stats]

For the second time this season, junior Malinda Reese has been honored as the Golden State Athletic Conference Volleyball Libero of the Week. In two road games against top-ten opponents last week, Reese recorded 47 digs (6.71 per game) and 65 serve receptions.

In Saturday’s game at #8 Azusa Pacific, Reese rewrote the Westmont record book, tallying 29 digs to bring her career total to 1,459. The total surpassed current Westmont assistant coach Patti Scofield Cook who notched 1,441 digs in her four year career. Reese also has recorded 1,792 serve receptions.

Freshman Katie Lowry produced nine block assists and tallied eleven kills while producing a .429 attack percentage. But, it wasn’t enough to keep Westmont Volleyball from falling to #8 Azusa Pacific (15-4, 7-3) in four games (23-30, 30-22, 30-18, 30-21). Tonight’s match is the third straight against a top ten opponent for the Warriors.

After falling behind 12-7 in game one, the Warriors tied the game at 19 each and then went on to produce an 11-4 run to post a one-game-to-none lead. Lowry went five for nine in hitting attempts in game one without producing an error and collected four block assists. Senior Kelsey Voetmann notched four of here team leading 14 kills in game one.

[stats]

Westmont volleyball fell in three games at #3 California Baptist (18-2, 8-1) on Tuesday (30-18, 30-28, 30-22) in the second of four matches in a row against top-10 opponents.

The Warrior’s best performance came in game two, mostly as a result of taking charge of the net. Westmont produced five blocks in the second game including three block assists by sophomore Katie Sharp and a solo block by freshman Stephanie Dunn.

[stats]

Second ranked Fresno Pacific, proved to have a little too much fire power as the Sunbirds (15-0, 8-0) swept the Warrior volleyball squad in three games (30-22, 30-14, 30-27). Westmont falls to 5-7 overall and 3-5 in conference play with the loss.

Westmont made it interesting in the first and third game, but couldn’t quite pull of the victory. Senior Kelsey Voetmann and freshmen Katie Lowry and Stephanie Dunn, produced back-to-back-to-back kills to start the match and the Warriors held an early 10-5 lead. But Fresno Pacific battled back, eventually tying the match at 15 each and then scoring 15 of the next 22 points.

[stats]

Sophomore Laura Trudelle posted 15 kills and 19 service receptions to lead Westmont Volleyball to a three game sweep over the visiting Mustangs of The Master’s College (5-11, 2-5) at Murchison Gymnasium. The victory was important for the Warriors in their quest to return to post season play.

“We play in a conference where Biola is nineteenth ranked in the country and will battle for fifth or sixth place,” said head coach Jim Smoot. “We’re battling with The Master’s, Vanguard and Hope International for seventh place and the final spot in the Regional playoffs. So, tonight’s match definitely had playoff implications. Hopefully we are going to build on this win and challenge some of those teams above us for a higher spot.”

[stats]

Westmont volleyball (4-6, 2-4) struggled against the nineteenth ranked Eagles of Biola (9-5, 3-3) in La Mirada this evening and suffered a three game loss (30-20, 30-19, 31-29). Game one began with a see-saw battle which saw the Warriors take an 11-9 lead. But an eight-to-one run by Biola put the Eagles in charge and the Warriors were unable to recover.

The second game was also close early. Down 5-6, Biola scored seven of the next nine points to go up 12-8. With that, the Eagles took control and a two-game-to-none advantage.

[stats]

Westmont volleyball traveled to Costa Mesa for a game against the Vanguard Lions (7-5, 0-4) and came home with a 3-2 win (26-30, 30-24, 26-30, 30-20, 15-13). Senior outside hitter Kelsey Voetmann had a game high 21 kills for the Warriors while sophomore Laura Trudelle contributed 15 kills and four blocks. Katelyn Lowry added another ten kills and three blocks.

After falling behind 10-1 in the first game, the Warriors battled back to within two (19-17) but were unsuccessful in closing the gap, losing 26-30. But in game two the Warriors took control behind Trudelle who recorded eight kills in the game and an attack percentage of .538. Westmont evened the match at one with a 30-24 win.

[stats]